One Rabid Fox changes the Succession Wars [A Battletech Isekai]

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara
Justin's groan was loud as he got up from the couch... not that he'd been laying there all that long. "Oh its great to be back." The common space of the academy was largely filled with other students but the trio's return was different for all three. Justin, and Alexandria had done well... they had done well before he had left, but Albion and Northwind had proven to be strong competitors. Robinson's pair of cadets had eked victories against Warrior's hall, which had cemented the New Syrtis favorite in last place but Robinson hadn't done well against the assault mech and Alexandria in her orion had put the duke of rio's son out of action in both their original matches and the follow on sets.

Justin had done well against the Highlander in the second set but had still taken a beating that in a real battle would have probably have left both mechs in need of serious repairs. Justin's loss in the bout meant nothing really... really he had done well and it had no bearing on production decisions for the Cataphract. It was all about logistics.

That had always shaped the cataphract decisions. The choice of the Imperator A auto cannons used on the Rifleman. The same for the large laser... but if the trooper project Rifleman went forward well there was going to be less impetus to produce the Imperator A or more examples produced but that problem could be looked at from different angles.

"You only have a few more months," Henry pointed out tapping his noteputer, and double checking the delivery receipts. He didn't look up as Justin groaned while he stretched, or the half incoherent ;I know' that ushered from the shorter senior. The Stingray, the F 90, had a reputation as an ASF for hitting dropships parked on the ground. It was in that he planned to rely on... not so much because he didn't think they were capable of engaging DropShips in the air, but because he wanted a competent air to ground attack platform to support his masses of medium of tanks, and hovercraft...and battlemechs.

That it ran off a 240 Vox engine was great for logistics as well. It was plenty of reason to transfer more to Bristol. Subsidiaries focused on manufacturing armor had been a consideration anyway, before the lawsuit... and as much as that surprise pissed him off he couldn't just blow it off. Even while he was here for the semester he was going to have to keep on top of it.

The obvious solution was going to be to make changes to the Devastator and the Schrek to differentiate the models. Use the Vox240 pull the TTS and Comms gear for Federated Suns, and hope that was fucking enough at least for the short term. They could use starslab pattern armor like the Partisan he supposed as well.... but it was just the headache of having to make those changes ... and the concern that it might not be enough.

If that wasn't enough for the Schrek then that was a problem. Theycould make improvements to the Devastator as a tank. Henry reached up t o pinch the bridge of his nose hoping against hope it would stemthe mounting headache. Commonality of parts. Same engine, same armor... ideally same everything except the guns.

It could have been worse.

Alexandria looked over her tea cup. "What are you going to do?"

Sakhara had an armor school. "The Devastator carries a fusion engine," He muttered closing his eyes and working backwards, "It needs more armor protection." Henry made a mental note to himself to email the vice chancellor ... the legal side of things was his problem, but he hadn't been looking to customize the Devastator tank at the time this had all started... now there was a reason to so more armor made sense, and that would protect the crew and it would be less risk of the fusion... which he could replace especially within jump distance of Sakhara. He almost considered the matter of caseless ammunition... but there wasn't a supply chain for that anywhere but here... no that would definitely have to wait. "Medium lasers," He muttered." Missiles and support would need tobe relegated to other units... let the schreks serve as direct fire support at range that had proved to work, and go from there. "We've got a lot to do now that we're back." The whole tank thing was a pain in the ass but he'd figure it out... and a small petty part of him wanted to rush through the meklab essence digging around for anything that Aldis industries would build in the future and patent introtech versions of all of it just for the hassle.

He could still do that... but doing it right now would just raise a shit ton of questions he didn't have time to answer, or argue about. They had a lot that needed to be answered... and talking to the other corporations... and there was always the possibility that yeah maybe Davion leadership was right and this was nebulous convoluted Capellan scheme to just lawfare a problem for the Federated Suns... and then there was the chance it was Terra... that it was ComStar.

"What are we going to do?" Justin asked, "More unit drills?"

"Among other things," All of them, the graduating class wouldn't have made it this far without being competent mech pilots, that asn't going to be a problem. All of them could drive and shoot, and in theory they should have all been able to work together pairedup as lances... but could they work together as larger groups in tasks not immediately related to driving their mechs. "There are staff material that still needs to be covered, and coordination with the other arms," He glanced at the AFS transfer orders, "We're going to coordinate your class with armor and air power," It wouldn't be for another few weeks ,but that lesson was going to be important since the idea was to insure that the graduating cadets even the ones not going to the cadre were well versed, well prepared for frontline service. "I'm going to drill it into your heads, that having combat vehicles helping on the field is a major benefit, so you can expect that." Watching battle roms for the last ride of the sword of light just hadn't cut it for most of hte young mechwarriors... the battle in January of 3014 simply was a grand victory over the hated national enemy.... but it had not cleared old biases or views of how warfare was conducted or the chauvinism, parochialism of combat. "Besides ... well in addition to that the opposing force training is going to be expanded. Bard should be back here in a couple of months... March I think, so you can expect the rangers as well. Be ready for that." He advised.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara

Alexandria had returned to Sakhara with some idea of what she was going to be walking into. Or at least she had thought she had known that. The truth was most of the cadets at Sakhara came from impressive enough families, that most of their focus had been the recent victories over the Combine the position of Count of Sakhara was recognition for that but it certainly didn't help that Henry's position as Count directly subordinate to the First Prince was not something he traded on. He didn't need.

Whether he traded on it or not, was largely irrelevant it wasn't something that could be forgotten but it could be overshadowed by older more established titles, or glossed over by the accomplishments which had warranted it. That didn't fix the situation, especially now, especially now. Concealing the shipyards would have been impossible. Armor production could have been overlooked, even fusion powered tanks, but not asf or battlemechs... and the construction gantries of a star lord jumpship even more so.

She had been expected to keep such information in confidence until the announcement on New Avalon, but really there had been others, andword had almost surely gotten out. Now that the announcement had beenmade by the First Prince though there was no pretending.

The two men were talking. "I was under the impression that the225 Engine was not to be considered a priority." The heavy set technician or engineer, she wasn't quite sure which wore a heavy dutyred work jump suit.

"It wasn't." Clay replied in an almost sullen clip. "It wasn't, we're going to talk to Achernar in the spring about transferring a VOX 225 Engine production line to them on New Avalon, along with talks about getting them to introduce the Hammer hands back into production. Hopefully that will spur a little more innovation, but we need additional 225 engines, and I don't feel like risking a legal fight over the Von Luckner."


The conversation's technical scope was beyond her. The talk of thehammer hands was an archaic battlemech an early machine developedindigenously inthe Federated Suns, and of course she knew Clay hadbeen talking with Achernar and about installations on New Avalon. Sheunderstood that the fusion powered tanks were in production here aswell.

--

The gantry system were automated. He could sit here and watch anddrink coffee and needed to do nothing about the machines. The people here were just in case something did somehow fail... but it was all black box factory tech you didn't need people for this work.

Henry had been planning to do something with Project Zhukov formonths now. Already had shown the cadets the heavy hovercraft assault guns which would expand the Robinson Assault Cluster... but wooing Archernar was only nominally related to that. New Avalon Fusion Products could use additional investment, handing them machine tooling was only part of that. The Hammer hands would be a Davion talking point... but it would also allow for other projects.

Most of Archernar's incomes came from its other divisions not its battlemech production. In a sense that was good thing on a number of different fronts. They had a large manufacturing concern, diversified across multiple industries and they were established so people knewthe name, and expanded production was less likely to raise concerns.

They in that respect made a good choice because they were also on New Avalon. Zhukov was going to be more than that, he was going to write to Robinson... and they were going to push forward with new tanks, and new weapons especially if he had to move away from the Devastator. He was going to need to have someone sub contract to produce internal combustion vehicles as well even if he was more likely to rely on Fusion engines personally there were going to be worlds that needed to have ICE vehicles... where as other militias could afford to operate Nissan 200 powered tanks or heavier vehicles. For wealthier worlds though those were options, worlds like Sakhara were places where his Shrek's and devastators attracted little attention from the cadets who came from similar worlds.

Maybe that had given him an insulated view... but getting blindsided by the Aldis litigation was infuriating. It was something he was going to have to deal with, and the first step in that direction was going to be moving away from the Mk III standard configuration. That was... in hind isght still something that they could have done better on. Hindsight was always 20/20, something that he was reminding himself about.

It was part of the reason he was making the point of just selling a factory for the 225 Engine to Achernar since they weren't really in a place to refuse the offer. Especially if they then went on to start production, or restart production, of the Hammer hands.

... in the mean time, "I want that package put together to ship to New Avalon," The Donals and ChisComp medium lasers would bean easily justified decision... the Donals as a replacement to theAC-10s of the Hammer Hands of yore well he could pass that along and not expect a second look. That the machine was 5 tons heavier and used a different engine, well he'd had that discussion already with his own people. New Avalon Fusion Products would probably be glad for the new machinery and their BattleMech people would have the opportunity to build a slower brawler machine that would be directly competing with the long sword. Production which could go somewhere besides the Draconis March... Achernar could sell into the Crucis, or even to the periphery facing units without a problem... but the real objective was just to expand mech production for the Suns over all," In the mean time the MML Centurion is our next project." That was actually one of the small reliefs of the trip.

There hadn't been that many questions about the machine... too overshadowed by heavier fighting machines. Which was fine, the dealto produce the Centurion had been his priority because it was a simple trooper mech... and something that he could provide to cadets en masse. All powered by a simple and common 200 Rating Nissan Engine.

The majority of that company worth of Centurions were all normal 'intro-tech' models. There were twelve cadets in the 'year under him' that had started the new term with orders to report to the mech hangar in the morning. Coincidentally Justin had a free period for independent study this final semester at the academy and the goal was to give him time to coordinate with the massed centurions... even though that was optimistic about his slated duty station on Spica.

He hadn't even needed to talk to the Vice Chancellor personally ...in part because the centurion discussion had already been had when he had started talking about the Centurion line in the first place. The problem though was Sakhara's cadets didn't have an engineering techside program... and he didn't expect any of the cadets to go and pull a Kerensky and say I need xyz in a mech to turn out hte next atlas orthe king crab... and that wasn't what he really needed, wasn't what the Fed Suns really needed.

NAIS was open, bit it was just one school.

Henry sighed, "Also is there any word about the Eridani showing up?"

"According to the office of the First Prince while General Kerston plans to employ the JumpShip circuit it won't be for a few more weeks."

Henry nodded, "What do you think?"

"The First Prince is wooing the Eridani to attack the combine using the data provided."


Henry rolled his eyes, "Yes, obviously, but I was asking Colonel what you think, as a person."

The 3rd​ RCT officer paused, "I don't know sir."

"You've got a couple weeks to figure where you stand with the Eridani, man... and we still have to tell them about there being an Amaris claimant out there as well, assuming Ian hasn't beaten us to the punch on that front." The man's face was grim in response to that comment, but Henry continued on, taking a quick swig from his coffee, "Anyway you said the Eridani's IFF credentials were valid, what does that mean?"

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara

Even from the safety of the vantage they had the 185mm auto cannon roared, still loud despite the protective covering of the command bunker allowing the gaggle of students to watch their fellow cadets train on the demonstration tank.

Just because Aldis was filing litigation it couldn't do anything to stop him from using the tanks he already had. He just couldn't sell them. Or at least it was legally advised he not sell any more while the proceedings were filed for the courts.

The Demolishers primary weapon had been what had pushed him towards settling on the ChemJet auto cannon over other options... there was always he supposed the principle armament of the Victor he supposed, but that ran into rumors of issues with the Pontiac's ammunition feed. He was leery of that sort of thing... for much the same reason he supported replacing the auto cannons on trooper mechs like the Centurion, the Enforcer. He would have recommended doing the same with replacing the Imperator A on the multitude of Dragons in the Draconis March Militia.. but that machine also needed its ten cell long range missile launcher ripped out as well... which was another familiar problem. It was just being boring and practical

The Dragon and any modifications or refit packs for that were going to remain that for a while. At least few more years. He couldn't, didn't have the time to diversify into VLAR300 machines just yet so it was just going to have to wait until this mess with Aldis was settled out... and that was also why he was diversifying by proxy. He had needed to do something for Achernar, because really the Federated Suns and the AFFS were always looking for more production.

The 75 ton Zhukov tank was only slightly smaller than the Demolisher. It was built around a smaller 225 Fusion Engine. It addressed the Mark III Demolisher's initial defect of limited armor, but the entire Zhukov branding was going to be marketing going forward. Steadily going to be getting louder over the next several years if things went to plan.

The RAC would be receiving further battlemechs of course, but that expansion was going to have to be balanced against other needs.

"This is really eating at you." Justin observed.

Most of the school... or at least the ones who cared to talk about it were on the party line about blaming the Capellans... but the truth was given the victories against the Combine, and the lack of victories against the Capellans, and the capellans being the sick man of the Inner Sphere they were also taking the main branch Davion cues about that there being fault in how House Hasek was running things.

... that was just as likely that scions of powerful people who attended Sakhara were seeing the way the wind was blowing on New Avalon. That was actually to Justin's benefit. He'd be joining an RCT on Spica operating under auspices from New Avalon, not New Syrtis.

Not that these would be ready for Spica. This was a demonstration model of the tank chassis. The entire point of the fusion engine was to mount more armor. He hoped the senior cadets inside the tank appreciated that, "When you leave for Spica I'll be sending an air regiment with you, it won't be at full strength, but if the Capellans do try anything I want you to be able to force them to surrender rather than be able to run away."

"You think that's going to happen?"

"If it does, then it would be significant feather in your cap." Alexandria observed cooly to her cousin, "But can you really afford to spare those planes?"

"In this case its a matter of hiring mercenary pilots," He replied, and that was something he was entirely prepared to play off as capitalizing on an idea he had gotten from Yvonne Davion... and he wasn't opposed to hiring mercenaries raised on Federated Suns worlds... Friesland was an excellent example that she had pointed him towards, but in part he had a hard time trusting using the MRB anymore than necessary.

The Hells black aces didn't yet exist at least not under that name, though he did have a tender out with the MRB looking for experienced ASF operating mercenaries officially. If he could find them and woo them to Davion space that would be great... but he wasn't rushing.

"And you can find some?"

He simply nodded, "Haakon's people have pilots, and the Outworlds Alliance even though its on the fringes of civilization and with queer political ideas of its own produces its share of pilots looking for adventure and pay," And periphery born pilots were unlikely to harbor any sympathies whatsoever with the capellans. He would therefore have a few months, "Quite frankly I'd love to strip all the ASF pilots from the outworlds alliance that I could they're wasted protecting that collection of hypocritical luddites, I'll hire who I can and furnish them with planes as it becomes available.... in a few years I should have more aircraft options than the 'stalker and stingrays but for the time being they're what I have." He gave another shrug and that was true there were the talks with members of House Davion, with Ian, Hanse, and their aunt but he needed to focus on the ones he was doing already... and on selling machine tooling to the other manufacturing concerns of the Federated Suns.

From what he understood, Ian was going to do a lot of courting to try and convince them to invest in expanding production which would mean money sunk into new facilities... and that was going to require more shipping between worlds. Moving raw materials to worlds, and then shipping finished goods off world to end users.

There was going to be a demand for JumpShips, or rather adding to the existing demand. One Shipyard would take forever to fix that gulf.

Henry paused, and glanced to the head of the student government, "There is something else?" Alexandria started to recount some of the chatter from New Avalon that he had been absent for. It wasn't news that She, and Justin traced their lineages and that of most of Kestrel's noble houses to veterans of the SLDF who had been landed in the face of the disastrous, cataclysmic bloodletting of the first succession war.


The conflict which had begun the trend of ripping out fusion engines those limited numbers, relatively speaking, of tanks who ran off of them to replace cored out but salvageable battlemechs... that was what the carnage unleashed by the succession wars had entailed...that and the death of whole worlds. It was that which he wanted to avoid a return to. "The First Prince has issued a call asking all those," Or at least in more practical terms representatives of those who publicly avowed descent from the SLDF, "To join him on New Avalon for a conference about the last days of the star league." Ian's conference could only really be about one thing that Henry could think about... and it was telling that Ian was calling for it while Henry would be back here on Sakhara and likely before the class graduated.

Ian had already told the Eridani Light Horse... the descendants of the 3rd​ Regimental combat team... the colonel of his regular forces who was standing nearby was a mechwarrior who had been stuffed into a stasis tube along with a scant handful of 19th​Striker MechWarriors who'd made it away from the fighting. He took the minute, the brief pause Alexandria had stopped for to signal the officer, "I see well, we might need to talk about if Kestrel is going to be involved."

"You know what its about?" Justin asked eager to be let in on the news, since obviously neither had been given indication what it might be... and Justin might not have cared about the political ramifications he was just looking to be let in on whatever was the cause of all the fuss. "Come on tell me, man."

"Not here, when we get out of the demonstration," He replied. The armor instructors were probably already annoyed enough with the mechwarrior cadets as it was. The truth was the cadets of the graduating class had seen 185mm auto cannons in the use of his demolishers already, and the Zhukov was not any faster... and while he was leaning towards a version of the Demolisher that cribbed heavily from the Von Luckner the Zhukov label was going to be circulating heavily in internal memos through the DMM, and probably going out to worlds of the Crucis March as well as he worked on advertising.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara
Alexandria and Justin both settled into the room, both eager to hear what the secret was behind the First Prince's conference that their parents had likely both mentioned while they had been on New Avalon for the remainder of the tournament. There had been a lot of talk on New Avalon. About appointments, and and also duty stations the first duty stations of of cadets from Sakhara who would be graduating...that was to say their class.

The Zhukov demonstration was on paper simply a precursor demonstration to the greater combined arms demonstrations that the class had to look forward to as part of their final semester here at the academy. It wasn't quite that simple. Far from it being that cut and dry Henry knew that the tech level across the Federated Suns ran the gamut... there was a significant gulf between the level of development across the suns... and that had probably been true even during the star league never mind once the perpetual war after the fall of the league.


Henry made a gesture to a star map, the projector had sprung to lifeas he had sat down. "That is New Valencia," He said matter of factly, "This morning the circuit returned from New Avalon with world from Blackwell. They produce a VLAR 300 powered hundred ton, for all intents and purposes version of the Marauder 3D that they developed in conjunction with the Wolf Dragoons... when the dragoons returned to the Inner Sphere they came with a down teched ANH series Annihilator assault mechs those run off of the Nissan 200Engine. New Valencia," That was to say Blackwell, "Is worried they may face a similar legal challenge from GM over their Marauder II so they want to cement agreements to expand their production. This fits neatly with Ian's interest to bring the Dragoons to the table."

Justin was the first to speak up, even if his response was a somewhat flummoxed, "... Ok."

Henry glanced to the SLDF man, and nodded, blinking slowly as he did so, "House Kurita collaborated with Amaris. We don't at this point think they participated in the Coup against House Cameron or anything like that, but after Amaris seized Terra the coordinator began passing information of SLDF movements, as well as refusing Kerensky basing rights. This resulted in among other losses the destruction 19th​ Striker Regiment of the 3rd​Regimental Combat Team of the SLDF on Talitha. The Combine's ISF has passed their movements and disposition of forces to the Usurper, where at Amity City three heavy BattleMech regiments converged on their position and wiped them out."

The Hegemony had always emphasized its pilots skill. Their survival. The hegemony simply didn't have the population base to rely on human wave tactics... or at least that was what history told them given later era reports on the likes of the Capellans and the Combine. Both of whom were enemies of the Federated Suns, and historians across the Federated Suns most important worlds were quick to equate and declare the Suns and First Prince the natural successors of the Hegemony and House Cameron just as every other successor states historians did for their home nation.

Justin simply nodded. It wasn't that he didn't have an interest in military history, that wasn't the case at all since Justin had done very well academically at Sakhara in the subject, but he didn't make the immediate connection. "You have, have to have told the first prince."

"Yes," He replied simply enough. "Which is why I assume in a few months that the vice chancellor," Lieutenant Colonel Coleridge, "expects the Eridani coming to tour the campus."

"But that's not all,"

"No, very little of the 19th​ survived the force reconnaissance mission carried out on Kerensky's orders as part of Operation Intruder. Amity City was situated near a major hegemony training center and storage depot, and there was extensive resistance on Talitha more broadly. At the realization that the Combine had tipped off the Rim World, and they were cut off from evacuation from the planet the 19th​ made a stand before attempting to withdraw into the deep underground... most of them didn't make it. Parts of the Regimental Reconnaissance Company survived, and portions of a Battle Company, but by and large casualties were total. The Rim World had no concerns about civilian losses on a planet that was a center piece of resistance against Amaris."

There was a pause as he left the matter as it was at the end of that sentence.

"Its not that simple. Talthia was liberated, and used as a staging ground, so something else must have happened... and the Eridani ..." Alexandria paused, "The 3rd​ RCT didn't know... they moved to join the Free Worlds League after Kentares, and the massacres on Sendai." She pointed out, which was true of course. The Eridani Light Horse had refused to leave with Kerensky on the Exodus but had then straddled the line in waiting to see what had happened... and well then the first succession war had broken out.

"Talitha was a Hegemony world," The Colonel remarked speaking up, "The underground depot complex was a castle support structure containing stasis tubes. The original plan was to wait out the usurpers forces for reinforcements from the rest of the SLDF for their arrival in force. There was a delay, and then some kind of technical problem. The result of which was that the SLDF didn't receive a direct briefing on what had happened."

"That's not quite true," Clay interrupted, "Kerensky did know by that point, he'd been informed, had intercepts of HPG streaming video communications between Amaris and Minoru Kurita, but I don't think at that point it would have made any difference. Once Terra was liberated Kerensky was probably already thinking of fleeing the Inner Sphere, and even if he hadn't made up his decision I don't think further proof would have changed his mind. Ian is hoping it will sway the Dragoons to coming back into the Federated Suns service, I assume so he can pitch them at the Combine,"

"The Dragoons are descendants of Kerensky's exodus."

"As are the RAC..." None of whom were present in this briefing, but that was a coincidence... the issue of the clans was something that was going to have to be addressed but it wouldn't be today. "just different branches, different clans. Kerensky's son established a hereditary warrior nobility of sorts based on genetic lineage. Its a mess of a society, if I'm being honest... but the truth is its not just that its that there is an Amaris pretender in the periphery out there as well." There was a gasp of shock from Alexandria and then Justin all but jumping out of the plush chair he'd been slouching in. "Someone or some network of people have been supporting Amaris's descendants and in this case they've been preparing for another conflict with the inner sphere... and that's one more enemy, at least one more enemy to add to the roster that the Federated Suns has to contend with, and there is a lot of fighting we can expect to do in the near future," which was in no small part why New Valencia was going to receive a positive response to its expressed interest in getting the machinery necessary to manufacture the Nissan 200 engine regardless of how he personally felt about the Annihilator as a battlemech.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara
Alexandria had spent the better part of the morning just walking the campus grounds. She'd gotten up earlier than she needed to, her earliest class simply couldn't come early enough. Sakhara had changed with the awarding of the county from when she had first been admitted. She had arrived on the same JumpShip that had brought the then freshly minted count of Sakhara but also the same jumpship laden with the heavy battlemechs, and attendants.

... not though the vessels that would come later.

Still there had been a handful of retainers then, men who ... whose counterparts would have been her own ancestors. Men who after the fall of the Star League had joined the Federated Suns and become members of aristocracy as a result. The 7th​ Crucis Lancers had units which traced to SLDF men who had joined the AFFS after Kerensky had left.

Which was the yet other side of the coin. The hulking infantry officer who all too frequently served as as Clay's bodyguard was a descendant of soldiers who had left with Kerensky's exodus. The Robinson Cluster was a military unit here to support, and protect Clay if Amaris's descendants came calling.... which was a horrifying prospect in its own right. That that was a concern as real as the combine threat.

Then there were all the other details, but most of all that the Combine had provided information to the Rim World Republic that had bloodied the SLDF. Done more than just bloodied some units, her uncle... Justin's father had dealt with the Eridani... and if he hadn't been familiar that fourth chair, that empty fourth chair in the room and what it symbolized was there.

She hadn't brought it up yet despite being admitted into the room and the mild insanity ... at least for now had kept her from doing so.

Henry seemed less worried about that, at present he was too busy grumbling about how his original plans for Bristol were going to be delayed by the trip to Kathil. Something about DropShip production here and how he was waiting for men to return. There were papers from Galax, andFederated Boeing that must have arrived from the same New Avalon hailing star lord that arrived on the circuit with the other news, with the rest of the mail.

A circuit which readily facilitated couriered messages from home much easier. In theory of course the HPG could have been even faster but ComStar charged exorbitant rates for live communication, and even at those rates they were not always available... for unknown arcane reasons... or if one were more suspiciously inclined arbitrary availability.

"Tell Federated Boeing that once we've recovered the Richard IIIthat we will pass it along to them,"

The Captain paused. He did look sort of like his nominal superior, a man who spent too much time in low gravity from the looks of him, "But we already have the ship," He replied.

"I know that and you know that but," He held up another courier delivered letter, "I'm sure someone is reading our mailto Boeing before it reaches the board, so Yvonne is wanting to see who gets that message and spring a little trap on them, it might be mostly harmless industrial espionage, they haven't done anything per se yet, but it could be foreign spies, and DMI wants to deal with that, and if it is internal someone will get a ruler smack from the civilian ministry about what's polite among gentlemen." Another shrug, as if the statement wasn't so characteristically flippant to utter, "The Richard by itself isn't much useful to us anyway...getting the class into production that would be so much more useful but again that's largely on the basis using cargo dropships of a certain tonnage along the circuit," but then that was still a matter of JumpShip carrying.

The holographic map was a familiar one, it was only distinct in that the three dimensional star chart was of superlative size for her to see in detail the jump route that reached the capital, and traced to the other worlds. The expansion of the circuit was already facilitating a much larger volume of trade between those worlds it touched and those worlds involved in the circuit were already being spoken to about how that grater trade might be expanded further. In short that there would be investment in them, not just in money but that the home ministry was looking to expand education prospects to the public as there would be need to be more workers, in other diversified fields.

She knew that because by this point the circuit had been in place that people of importance trusted it for their mail to be carried to Sakhara to their children. Her parents trusted it to bring her mail, and instructions even without knowing the latest details. They also trusted the mail to go the other direction from Kestrel, to New Avalon. Alexandria understood that within Sakhara they were waiting for Haakon's return, though not explicitly stated but most likely she assumed with further JumpShips to expand the carrying trade with which would carry goods.

Sakkhara was famous for being the site of the Academy, and the wealth and prestige of its alumni of course. The new industrial megaplex which had sprung up changed that dimension. There was a spur, had always been a spur where ships could depart the rendezvous point to travel to Robinson, but not there were earmarked lines for Hoff, Royal, New Ivaarsen and a handful of others. There were shipping manifests being repaired for DMM units.

"Lord Aaron mentioned the raids by the Galedon Regulars." He had mentioned them as they had departed New Avalon, but it had been something that had been discussed while they had been there.

"They're certainly a problem." Henry replied to her observation. "They hit Kesai at the tail end of last year, and seem to be looping back we think they're looking to do a bit more, but Samsonov, their commanding officer is proving hard to predict." There was a pause, and then wistfully, "We'd love to trap them somewhere. Samsonov has competition or disagreements in the DCMS its not impossible he might try and raid here for supplies..."

"Might?"

"Its always possible that if he attacks here, some sword of light officer will think he's getting too much of a fat head and give him a hair cut." He blew out a wistful sigh, "Not that I'm counting to heavily on that, Samsonov isn't stupid but he does seem callous given the reports of how he uses his supporting arms. The consensus from high authority is that he won't try, but its not out of the realm of possibility."

Alexandria thought about the shipyard , and the skeleton of the JumpShip under construction. The tournament on New Avalon had hardly been the first time she'd driven a battlemech but it had been the first time with that size of spectator crowd, but it hadn't been areal battle. Not that her graduating class would be the first line of defense.

In the event Sakhara was attacked they would be expected to assist in the defense... but for the first time in centuries really Sakhara had a much larger presence of defenders ... and there was the expected visit by both the Eridani Light Horse , and the Robinson Rangers.

Heedless of those thoughts Henry gestured to the shipping directives. "When Haakon gets back we're going to start shipping orders to some of the other DMM units, those on nearby worlds. Nothing really fancy but a lance of Sentry BattleMechs are going to Ivaarsen we'd really like the Chasseurs to consider newer mech designs, most of the rest will be shipments of Sphinx Medium Tanks. Ivaarsen if they're not interested in the Sentry will likely ended up buying more Centurions, and the Sentry will go on to other worlds on the frontier. Ivaarsen may of course end up wanting larger 'mechs but its a wait and see sort of thing"

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara
Bristol was intended to produce Gauss Rifles. That massive castle brian sized storage depot was going to be put into, put to good use protected as it was by producing Gauss rifles and fusion engines and other components. Most production would be simpler things. Most of what it would produce though were going to be things already produced on Sakhara... it was just the Gauss rifles when they started becoming available, well would be a product they insisted were just on Bristol.

They wouldn't be. The truth was if not for the threat of the Galedon Regulars in the vicinity he'd have agreed with, or less reservedly agreed, Lord Aaron that there needed to be more staging forces and bases of supply and for that Hoff was very much an ideal. There was just too much to do before they could move on that. He needed to produce the things in particular the armor and light battlemechs he had mentioned to Alexandria the day before fill gaps in lines.

The essence screen was a wash of numbers. The value of equipment in monetary, and more abstract terms... and a spread sheet to track income and expenditures. It was also a vastly different, exponentially larger volume of exchange than what were calculated by the Davion analysts.

... but that was for any number of differences in what was calculated. The slantbacks that he planned to expand at market carried davion built weapons. The factories making those parts didn't require personnel in the sense that the SFU and MFU black boxes had not material gain to having a squishy human watching them. The techs were there purely as a safety and emergency response measure, in the event something went wrong.

A fire, or the possibility of attempts at sabotage. Sakhara, and probably Bristol would need to have precautions taken... further precautions taken since the realization had set in, that there were a lot of eggs in the basket. Clay expected that there would be something, which in his initial plans had been what had made him prefer to keep things close at hand. The county was close to the academy, and even the planetary ruler kept a major residence nearby... which had been where Yvonne Davion resided during her previous visits rather than commute from Memphis.

Bristol was going to be different though. The aircraft production there would probably, intentionally be laid down near the major AFFS training center at Ashwood. Most of the armor construction, and battlemech construction once that came online would be closer to the capital of Cardiff but rebuilding the industrial megaplex that had existed during the Star League even with transferring factory units from the essence would take time.

The JumpShip yard over Sakhara had taken eight factory units to assemble into the constellation necessary to produce the Star Lord class Jump Ship. He had recognized the political interest and thus pressure to look elsewhere. Officially Yvonne neither had the authority nor had been crass enough to point out that his time brevetted to the post on Kathil would count towards his time in grade in the AFFS. Not that that was really a concern, the AFFS was professional yes but no one after Mallory's World, and Halstead would have reasonably expected him to act as lance commander or probably even a company commander save perhaps in an emergency or the first prince was involved.

There had been rumors after the fact, that the Davion Guards had been talked about but that probably would have been too prone to complaints of nepotism. He'd only heard that second hand though from Lex and she'd apparently only heard it from some cadet on New Avalon who'd been more interested in the Long Swords her school had received and were putting through their paces at the time.

The chime at the door signaled an expected notification that he had been expecting since he had received the notification of Jump Ship transition into the system. The charging and docking stations at Zenith, and Nadir insured that things were safe, but also that they had plenty of warning in the event anyone showed up unannounced. Today's arrivals were just one group on a long list.

There were visits to be expected. Then there were the ones he wasn't planning on just yet. Yvonne Davion had suggested hiring mercenaries, with a short list to go along with it. The 15th​ Drakon hadn't been one of those but they had a good reputation... and to be fair it wasn't as if Henry was somehow above tweaking the Combine's nose as the aide to the Precentor New Avalon had happened to mention they were talking to the Combine about a long term contract. In part probably because his request had specifically asked after units of SLDF lineage.

It wasn't them, he was a little disappointed. He'd been hoping it might be the two battalions either here to accept his tendered offer or to enter negotiations. The New Valencia assigned DropShip though suggested that even if it wasn't mercenaries that it might be either communications from the dragoons or that their corporate partnership based there might have wanted to move forward on other agreements.

Blackwell already manufactured already manufactured parts for the Dragoons, and was still shipping them parts from what Henry understood, and that was fine but it didn't explain the Dragoons readiness or ability to reequip. It was just that Henry didn't actually need an explanation for that, he knew how that worked. The lawyers on New Avalon were supposed to be doing their due diligence on manufacturing new Shoguns, but he planned to push a similar offer to Blackwell to lease and or sell them an engine manufacturing factory similar to Achernar. This one though for the 255 Strand...whether or not the Dragoons were worth that much to New Valencia Henry didn't know for sure, but he assumed they were.

The new production Shogun ... a nominally singular demonstration model he planned to ship to New Valencia for them to put through their paces and report back to the dragoons was intended to see if they would bite. He wanted feedback from the lawyers before march, but that was why the jumpship circuit was critical... but it wouldn't hurt anything to let Blackwell's people actually test the machine here, since it had been outfitted with much more standard parts.

Henry swiped his hand dismissing the essence's mass of balance sheets and inventory and the reports of Bristol and Sakhara facilities before activating the conventional terminal, and the school's electronic mail system. The Dragoons had a reputation, that meant even if they were just hangers on Blackwell of New Valencia had a reputation, and that meant the Vice Chancellor was going to expect an invitation and it made perfect sense to invite the graduating class along... but even if it had been the 15th​ he'd had already planned to invite them to meet with the graduating class, or if the Eridani had shown up early, or any number of other visitors.

Justin must have already been on his device since he was the first to respond and half of the message was about the Cataphract anyway, and what plans were for production of that by other manufacturers. Henry just fired off a second message to meet him at the hangars, the truthwas unless GM or Blackwell or maybe Kallon moved on that he didn't' see production moving forward on the cataphract outside of small batches in the near future. Any small production was very likely toend up in training mechs for gunnery practice. Kallon hadn't committed yet on the Cataphract, and it made sense... things were moving very very fast by the standards of the succession wars, manufacturers probably weren't used to things moving this quickly...and were on the backfoot, especially with Ian adamant that all of this needed to be done.

Justin managed to beat him to the hangar , and be there before anyone else. "So its not the Eridani?"

"No its Blackwell, and I suspect probably one or two dragoons that hang around to keep an eye on things," He replied to the question squinting slightly against the bright sun to see if any one else was heading this way... Lieutenant Colonel Coleridge was in a meeting with the chancellor but a meeting the chancellor would likely release him from very shortly. Sakhara might not have been Nagelring and this not the Lyran commonwealth but networking was a critical skill to any officer... you; had to be aware of what your friends and also your potential rivals at court were doing after all. "The dragoons that are with them are probably mechwarriors." That was an assumption, he didn't know that for sure, but he had no qualms passing along to Justin the onboard manifest from New Valencia aboard the DropShip that had been transmitted.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara
The company of cadets had milled about. Most had gotten so used to the JumpShip circuit by the end of last year that the novelty of arriving DropShips to load products from the factories had since worn off. There were exceptions but that predominated with younger students and largely as new 'mech designs appeared on tarmacs.

That was all too frequently a blink and you missed it affair anyway. The older cadets simply didn't have the time normally to waste on these things ordinarily. Alexandria certainly didn't given her responsibilities with the student government, and Justin only occasionally could but largely by happenstance of testing the cataphract. It had been about the latter that he wanted to talk, but there had yet to be an adequate commitment from Kallon just yet.

Henry was irritable about communication prospects with Mitchell, but he wasn't going to let it show to the arriving Blackwell people. Robinson had already relayed that it was unlikely the two Dragoon presence were 'true born', which was a relief. He was still leery of advertising his small contingent of Elementals even if they weren't in their armor.

They wouldn't' recognize his Rabid Fox as a clan mech unless they couldget under the hood, and even then they probably wouldn't conclusively be able to say the 70 tonner was such... he doubted they would have enough time for that... since Henry didn't intend to allow them access to his personal mech anyway.

"We should see Hanse at some point," Henry remarked, stowing his annoyance. The NAIS and its establishment required royal patronage, required a commitment that Ian just didn't have the time for, not with everything else going on but it was the perfect use of his brother, as heir, who already needed to be close at hand to spend time on. There was going to be wide scale time spent testing and evaluating mechs, "And besides the Eridani," And the potential of the Dragoons arriving in numbers greater than the two Warriors... and the more of those who arrived the harder it was going to be to conceal his limited numbers though they were Hells Horse. Hanse Davion wasn't here... but he could see trying to push more machines to New Avalon, to New Avalon's Pratt & Whitney facilities to make Blackwell and the Dragoons more present there...but as it was the two Dragoon warriors were already looking at his Battle Company contingent here in their SLDF uniforms, which wouldhave been undistinguishable from many of the mercenaries and other units who still wore such khaki battle dress. "So?"

"The Dragoons have a fearsome reputation," Alexandria remarked, "I remember when they arrived in the Inner Sphere. "The Dragoons had arrived in 3005, and had departed Davion service several years before the Battle of Mallory's World. There had been no overlap between his entry with the Federated Suns, and those of the Dragoons time with the Federated Suns, and thus this was the first time he was being formally introduced, "They caused a stir with so many pristine battlemechs, they say they got lucky finding an old SLDF depot."

He snorted, "Hardly." He replied,

The countess of Kestrel nodded. "I've seen how they've re supplied. Disappearing into the periphery and returning to fullstrength." A ten month disappearance and then all of a sudden back to full strength and ready to move on to their next contract with anotehr great house.

Ian had hoped that the Dragoons would renew their contract, "More machines out storage, but they weren't lucky." Yvonne Davion had made clear her biggest problem with the Dragoons claims was how good the Dragoons techs, and support staff were at maintaining their various machines. It was true that the Dragoons wanted to buy local parts, wanted companies to manufacture for them spare parts, but the Dragoons had entered the Inner Sphere awash with spares, and with techs who knew their work. Men who were educated and experienced in away that by and large didn't exist in human space on average. Certainly having them just appear on the scene had done more than just alarm House Cunningham... and other people focused in on how strange the Dragoons were, there were yet other eccentricities to the Dragoons.

The dragoons though had been in the Inner Sphere more than a decade now. Now in their third contract for a great house in the service of House Marik and the Free Worlds League. That at least meant that the Dragoons were unlikely to attack the Federated Suns... "Keeping them out of Combine service is what I'm really focused on." At least with the dragoons themselves, right now Henry was a bit unsecure as to how far he should push, but that was in part the legal stumbling block of such ... and the need to avoid tipping his hand too far to the Dragoons... from his own experience with his own Hells Horse never mind the reaction of the Davion personnel he could expect the Dragoons to stay away from the combine... but the question was them telling Clan Wolf, or worse the rest of the clan council about the last days of the Star League.

"And there is a reason you're not telling them?" Alexandria divined in what was more a rhetorical question than anything even as his body language shifted uneasily. "Its not the dragoons themselves."

"Kerensky seems more than a bit rash." He allowed, "But no, its complicated by people and ideas... and," And that people would misunderstand, or had malformed ideas about things, " That made things sound so clear cut, but they weren't. "Robinson belongs a blood house, just as Kerensky does, the core ranks among their warriors, but they belong to different clans... and from what I understand there are pirates in the Rimward periphery running around with the colors and machines of the Amaris Fusiliers... there might even be another Amaris pretender running around." It was hard to get news from the periphery news took forever to make it one way never mind two way communications, "Whatever idealism you have about the Star League, I'd recommend you put it aside," He whispered, "I'm going to go talk to Blackwell to see how much we can expand machine production." The third succession war was basically over he figured. He expected that historians would speak of the expected explosion, no pun intended, in conflict that that would be the 4th​ war.

Justin, largely well not oblivious to the grand strategy of the galaxy at war, but still more focused on the here and now, "I'm going to get the Cataphract powered up." It was after all part of why Blackwell was here.

Alexandria watched him go. "We're trying to make common cause with House Steiner."

"Yeah, Ian has been talking with them for a while, and I hope it works." He stopped as the Vice Chancellor appeared and made his way through the throng of cadets. "Coleridge."

"Clay, the Dragoons people?" He nodded at the two warriors, "Good, good. We need to make a good impression they're mercenaries, how do you think we should go about that?"

Not, Clay wanted to reply by putting them up against his assault cluster that was for sure. Clay was pretty sure there would be no getting around that, but he needed the dragoon's consent for Blackwell to do its work without issue... and Ian wanted them back with the AFFS fighting the Combine this time instead of the Capellans. "I think they'll be interested in testing the graduating class," Justin was already out of earshot, but Don Juan was eager to prove his own mettle, and volunteered before anyone else could speak up, and that suited Henry just fine.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Dragoons 1.1
Since the warriors, of Clan Wolf, hadn't brought a full lance with them ... well Henry wasn't surprised this took the form of individual combat, simulated of course. "What are we looking at?" Henry asked peering over the display. He really would have expected Marauder II assault battlemechs but was disappointed... though that was probably to the cadet's benefit.

"Two Medium mechs, sir. Two 55 Tonners. Hoplite and Wolverine."

The Wolverine was a 6R nothing special there. The Hoplite had been lost to the Inner Sphere, and its presence was probably nothing. Maybe he'd misunderstood, or overestimated the dislike of anything Wolverine. Not that Henry particularly cared, he might have to ask his own Clan Hells Horse personnel, but that would be waiting until after the Dragoons left. Henry made a mental note as he looked at the rotating holographic profiles to ask about the Hoplite as well.

No los tech.

Not that he'd been really expecting any. "Alright carry on." This would be a simulated fight. Don Juan destined for the seventh crucis lancers was chomping at the bit at least as much as Justin was, and to be fair the two Dragoons seemed eager for the match as well. Sakhara had after all been founded and had trained SLDF officers in the distant era.

Henry moved away from his two men in their khakis and stepped towards Alexandria. "They're going to do something rash."

"Most likely yes," He replied. "But its two on two. I like the 4 Bravo, but its a ranged platform through and through, built for fighting at range. It would make sense to get up close. "He replied... not voicing his suspicion that the 4B might well have been outfitted by the clans to reflect their ideas of how gentlemanly warfare between warriors should be conducted. If he were being honest the Combine would probably liked it quite well for their own duels, and the culture that had developed around those niceties.

"The machine was extinct until the dragoons returned."

He nodded, "Yes that's right, I don't see much wrong with it," A clan model would be absurdly dangerous with their missiles... but the 4B was just an introtech machine he'd seen the readouts, and certainly the simmunitions were configured to act in accordance with the accepted ranges. "Let the boys have their fun Lex. If they acquit themselves well, all the better." If they didn't, they'd be a lesson for the other cadets, and hopefully a lesson to the boys.

"Something is bothering you about the Dragoon's visit." It wasn't a question.

He shook his head, "Just something Coleridge said, don't think they'll be satisfied if they can beat the boys up. Don't particularly want them starting trouble with my men either."

"Some kind of clan scuffle?"

"I don't know how well Wolf and Horse are getting on," He replied, "But I suspect that its just a rivalry but its a distraction I don't think anyone needs." More so than she realized. Nothing he had said was actually wrong, but he glanced over the deep red sands of the desert field. If he kept his assault cluster out of sight people were going to mention it because that was unusual. The RAC presence with their heavy armor had become ubiquitous the cadets thought they were a bit queer in custom but they were used to the presence of the tankers.

Really that there were only two was enough that he wasn't especially worried about the combine showing up. He'd rely on his men regardless of their origins... and then he'd deal with the consequences if it came to that... even if that meant Jaime Wolf showing up at his damned doorstep afterwards... he just wanted more time, though he wasn't quite sure if more time would give him any better ideas.

There was a click of an ornate golden pocket watch, a ridiculous absurd piece of art, "Well, I'd say we should begin."

The vice chancellor nodded to the old instructor who was holding the watch. Coleridge had been the most outspoken in support of things like this, demonstrations to attempt to show the quality of cadets and their abilities but he wouldn't have done that without support. Not that he had to do much in the way of finagling to manage this, the Vice Chancellor had all the pull he needed just from his post, but likely with everything that had happened since Henry had come onboard and with all the effort put into the school Coleridge and his supporters of alumni statesmen and the truth was he expected those communications were made much easier by the jumpship circuit which carried news readily from New Avalon... but also those men wanted the cadets to show their worth to the Dragoons.

Henry watched the officiator of the exercise move to a lectern with microphones galore and that transmitted to both the four machines waiting, and boomed throughout the dug out observation space from which the class were gathered. Henry tuned out the formalities, they were irrelevant to him and he had more important things to concern himself with.

The Wolverine was a superlative medium mech, perhaps not perfect but a reliable and well rounded machine, "its the inverse of the Trebuchet Centurion pairing." Alexandria observed. She was referencing in contrast to the trebuchet the missile boat involved on the Dragoon side, the 4B Hoplite carried an LRM 15 but mounted a smaller 220 series DAV Fusion Engine. It was slower than its escort... though on the other hand it also mounted a Magna Hellstar PPC. The Wolverine carried a heavier 275, the ubiquitous across the inner sphere core tek model rugged and reliable and capable of pushing the 55 tonner farther and faster than the other mechs on the field.

That mobility wouldn't necessarily do it much good, "I don't think that's part of the plan, the Wolverine could split off from the Hoplite," It could, it had that ability, but for what good ...not much that Henry could see in the comparatively limited space of the pretend battlefield. Close enough that Henry wouldn't have been surprised if Diaz and Allard both had agreed to move aggressively into close quarters space.

Mitchell reached him as the dust began to kick up. No indication of Zellbringen then as the Wolverine jumped, and the Hoplite slathered a volley of paint laden simmunition missiles towards the cadets starting point as the two mechs began to move apart. The experimental centurion pilot nodded, "Shouldn't expect a long fight, not enough room, and too many machines involved." And not the right personalities for there to be a stalk around.

"No longer than the matches on New Avalon," He agreed to his his test pilot. As he had attempted to repeatedly beat into their skulls, an official called a simulated PPC hit from the Hellstar the hoplite carried. In real battle, where both 'teams' had had to advance to contact with the enemy the Hoplite only about four hundred meters distant would have been shooting long before this, though it had connected solidly on Justin, the Cataphract's large laser was still in range to return fire. In a protracted firefight, which the three of them, including Alexandria, were in agreement this was unlikely to be the seventy tonner would run hot if Justin wasn't careful... but no Zellbringen Don Juan had thrown his own machine forward and was rushing the faster Wolverine.
--

Notes: For Reference I use this I hope this link doesn't frag: https://www.wolfsdragoons.com/downl...iles - some good stuff/4SW_Wolfs_Dragoons.pdf.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Dragoons 1.2
Sakhara had been established by SLDF officers, and approved to train SLDF officers, which had in the era of the star league placed in it quite select company even beyond its present standing.

Alexandria knew the Dragoons were warriors proven, she'd seen roms of the mercenaries in action before... both their time in Davion service and after they had passed over to the capellans... and now they were further afield in the Free Worlds League. To that extent her actual experience with the dragoons were beyond her... so far as she was aware this was the first time that the Dragoons had visited Sakhara certainly that was the treatment and behavior of the two visiting mechwarriors. The black and red emblem of the Dragoons broad on their machines' shoulders, promenient in the images of the cameras.

Four names were up on the display.

Omar Fazio

Milo Ramsay

The two dragoon MechWarriors piloting the Wolverine and Hoplite respectively. The names opposite them were of course their Sakhara opposition. So far as Alexandria understood while good mechwarriors there was nothing special about them in the Dragoons ranks. This didn't strike her as some sort of punishment detail though...assigning a pair of warriors to liaise with a critical supply manufacturer wasn't the sort of thing you allocated to screw ups.

Henry had been tight lipped unusually so about his allies... except that their alliance stemmed from an enemy that had been the cause of the downfall of the star league. Somewhere out there was house Amaris lurking, skulking in the dark reaches of space... and from what she understood considered likely to manage an attack... and up until now she hadn't considered what that might have entailed.

Alexandria wasn't stupid or unobservant. Attacking the county seat would have meant moving across the wide open 'seas' of red sand dunes for miles. The RAC while an armor formation had geography on its side, the breaks in sightline and the germanium mines from which Clay likely derived no small amount of income were protected from approach by sheer cliff, and running water of a fast moving river. The factories and mech facilities to support his troops were deep underground protected from the beating heat of the sun, and included the heavily protected bunkers that the Stingrays could launch from.

The Combine troops pursuing the Rabid fox on the toxic surface of Mallory's World had chased across open ground, and thus it was easy to make the comparison to the defenses built. If anyone thought about it for any amount of time it would be, it might bet taken as just amore prepared version of that. Certainly the Combine's choice to rely upon the Elan vitale of independent companies to carry the day would face a murder field to cross to lay siege.

He had mentioned months ago that a cluster was a unit of organization. He had made a brief explanation of their system. Robinson was easy, it was just the same as 'Wolf's'. The same was true of 'dragoon' and 'assault' they were weight related, not purpose per se. An Assault Cluster had been defined as 'used for defensive operations and siege warfare, they are generally close enough to their supply lines to avoid resupply concerns, and so place a greater emphasis on heavier auto cannons and missile weaponry.' The devastators certainly fit that criteria, She abruptly grabbed his sleeve, "The Dragoons arrived with five regiments of BattleMechs," They had arrived with supporting arms, but just so, they were supporting combat arms. "Why aren't there-"

Henry's expression had shifted, "Because I need Robinson to defend here," He replied.

That didn't answer the question.

BattleMechs would have only strengthened his defensive position, she knew that, everyone knew that. The fight between wolves and cadets was wholly forgotten. Justin moving to close on the screen ignored. "You're bait?" She half asked, half accused. His denial did nothing, because in a way she'd suspected that Sakhara had always been too close to the Combine border, close enough to tempt the Snakes to do something stupid in the name of honor and glory for the dragon... except it was more than for just House Kurita to try and make good against the defeats on Mallory's World, and Halstead station before it... it was for the enemy of the long dead Star League to see an opportunity to attack.

At least Alexandria Cunningham, Countess of Kestrel had convinced herself of. The SLDF in exile might have since divided itself into great clans with no doubt prominent families but if Amaris attacked then whatever arguments between Wolf and Horse would be put aside.

For Henry Clay this was a blindside of a conversation he had not expected. He had been warned of course of the threat the Combine potentially posed, and he had planned for it. He also had the warning of how the Combine would react to the knowledge of the coordinator's duplicity and actions in regards to the Amaris crisis. More than that though for who's grasp of clan society while not perfect he understood significantly better what the Clans reaction would be to that knowledge. So, no he was no here as bait to provoke an attack.

He was inclined to protest the accusation, but there were too many people around. It was only the cadets engrossed focus on the paint splattering the combatant mechs that kept them from noticing immediately. "Will the Combine try something maybe," He replied tersely, "But that was always a risk," The factories here did make that a larger risk, "But it wasn't staked out that way. The Combine has a tendency to unpredictable," That was especially true, though the warning hadn't yet been delivered to him that Yvonne Davion had pushed out a warning that there were rumors of an attempt made on the Coordinator's life by rasalhague separatists but that warning ferried by JumpShip circuit was on its way and expected to be delivered before any attack could arrive, but even so still not here as bait, "will they attack, eventually yes, tomorrow next month probably not. The cluster was assembled as a defensive unit, its why its a pure armor formation." He repeated, "This isn't the place for this conversation though.


Yes, Henry was willing to admit would be willing to admit to anyone that, the Combine would attack 'eventually', but he had no reason tothink it was to be immediate. That window had passed when the Combine had moved to attack his taking up the title of Count. In the traditions of the Inner Sphere had been something that would have made the rotation of noble circles... the Combine had always since the days before the star league as peerages and knighthoods hawkishly watched the lists and gazette publications of the old Terran Hegemony, and the Federated Suns, that was what polite civilized society did, and had done since before human spaceflight.

The Combine couldn't possibly have missed that, "And the gazette for Bristol might not have reached the combine as of yet." She acknowledged.

"It is possible it has," As a document, as words on paper went the transmission size was easily within even a weakened HPG network's capability, but the links of transmission station to station along the chain would be expensive to have beamed out. Further, the publication announcing the dukedom also did not explicitly mention to the public reader the shipyards at Sakhara. The most cynical of readers would likely assume that this was Ian Davion awarding a greater post to a court favorite, and lethal captain of men. "And its equally possible that the Combine has come to expect an attack from our side sooner rather than later... I've arranged the forces here to defend the planet, and the Academy." he reiterated.